Editing Sexual orientation (section)

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Demographics of sexual orientation}}

Modern scientific surveys find that, across cultures, most people report a heterosexual orientation.<ref name="Bailey" /><ref name=LeVay/>{{rp|8}}<ref name=Balthazart/>{{rp|9–10}} Bisexuality comes in varying degrees of relative attraction to the same or opposite sex.<ref name=Bailey/><ref name=LeVay/>{{rp|8–9}} Men are more likely to be exclusively homosexual than to be equally attracted to both sexes, while the opposite is true for women.<ref name=Bailey/><ref name=LeVay/>{{rp|8–9}}

Surveys in Western cultures find, on average, that about 93% of men and 87% of women identify as completely heterosexual, 4% of men and 10% of women as mostly heterosexual, 0.5% of men and 1% of women as evenly bisexual, 0.5% of men and 0.5% of women as mostly homosexual, and 2% of men and 0.5% of women as completely homosexual.<ref name=Bailey/> An analysis of 67 studies found that the lifetime prevalence of sex between men (regardless of orientation) was 3-5% for East Asia, 6-12% for South and South East Asia, 6-15% for Eastern Europe, and 6-20% for Latin America.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Caceres|first1=C.|last2=Konda|first2=K.|last3=Pecheny|first3=M.|last4=Chatterjee|first4=A.|last5=Lyerla|first5=R.|title=Estimating the number of men who have sex with men in low and middle income countries|journal=Sexually Transmitted Infections|date=2006|volume=82|issue=Suppl. III|pages=iii3–iii9|doi=10.1136/sti.2005.019489|pmid=16735290|pmc=2576725}}</ref> The [[International HIV/AIDS Alliance]] estimates a worldwide prevalence of [[men who have sex with men]] between 3 and 16%.<ref name="International HIV/AIDS Alliance 2003">{{cite book |author=International HIV/AIDS Alliance |author-link=Frontline AIDS |url=https://www.who.int/hiv/topics/vct/sw_toolkit/Between_men_full_version.pdf |title=Between Men: HIV/STI Prevention For Men Who Have Sex With Men |year=2003 |oclc=896761012 |access-date=2020-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615021020/https://www.who.int/hiv/topics/vct/sw_toolkit/Between_men_full_version.pdf |archive-date=2021-06-15 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The relative percentage of the population that reports a homosexual or bisexual orientation can vary with different methodologies and selection criteria. A 1998 report stated that these statistical findings are in the range of 2.8 to 9% for males, and 1 to 5% for females for the United States<ref>James Alm, M.V. Lee Badgett, Leslie A. Whittington, ''Wedding Bell Blues: The Income Tax Consequences of Legalizing [[Same-Sex Marriage]]'', p. 24 (1998) [https://web.archive.org/web/20100604013713/http://www.colorado.edu/Economics/CEA/papers98/wp98-33.pdf PDF link].</ref> – this figure can be as high as 12% for some large cities and as low as 1% for rural areas.

A small percentage of people are not sexually attracted to anyone ([[asexuality]]). A study in 2004 placed the prevalence of asexuality at 1%.<ref name="Bogaert2006">{{cite journal |last1=Bogaert |first1=Anthony F |author-link1=Anthony Bogaert |year=2006 |title=Toward a conceptual understanding of asexuality |url=http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18172400 |journal=Review of General Psychology |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=241–50 |doi=10.1037/1089-2680.10.3.241 |s2cid=143968129 |access-date=2011-12-17 |archive-date=2012-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114191419/http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18172400 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="cnn">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/10/14/asexual.study/index.html |title=Study: One in 100 adults asexual |publisher=CNN |access-date=11 November 2007 | date=15 October 2004| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071027081628/http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/10/14/asexual.study/index.html| archive-date= 27 October 2007 <!--DASHBot-->| url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Kinsey data ===

In ''[[Kinsey Reports|Sexual Behavior in the Human Male]]'' (1948) and ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'' (1953), by [[Alfred C. Kinsey]] et al., people were asked about their sexual behaviors and then assigned a rating by the researchers on a [[Kinsey scale|scale]] from completely heterosexual to completely homosexual.<ref>{{cite web
	| url = https://kinseyinstitute.org/research/publications/kinsey-scale.php
	| title = The Kinsey Scale: Taking the Kinsey test
	| last = 
	| first = 
	| date = 
	| website = The Kinsey Institute
	| publisher = The Kinsey Institute
	| access-date = October 13, 2024
	| quote = An official Kinsey “test” does not exist, which is contrary to popular belief and many tests across the web. The original Kinsey research team assigned a number based on a person's sexual history.}}</ref> Kinsey reported that when the individuals' behavior, as well as their identity, are analyzed, a significant number of people appeared to be at least somewhat bisexual – i.e., they have some attraction to either sex, although usually one sex is preferred. Kinsey's methods have been criticized as flawed, particularly with regard to the randomness of his sample population, which included prison inmates, male prostitutes and those who willingly participated in discussion of previously taboo sexual topics. Nevertheless, [[Paul Gebhard]], subsequent director of the [[Kinsey Institute for Sex Research]], reexamined the data in the [[Kinsey Reports]] and concluded that removing the prison inmates and prostitutes barely affected the results.<ref name="MDOG">{{cite web|url=http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/publications/duberman.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020529022730/http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/publications/duberman.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-05-29 |title=The Kinsey Institute |work=kinseyinstitute.org }}</ref> More recent researchers believe that Kinsey overestimated the rate of same-sex attraction because of flaws in his sampling methods.<ref name=Bailey/><ref name=Balthazart/>{{rp|9}}<ref name=Lehmiller>{{cite book |last=Lehmiller |first=Justin |date=2018 |title=The Psychology of Human Sexuality |edition=Second |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXJGDwAAQBAJ |publisher=John Wiley & Sons Ltd |isbn=9781119164739 |access-date=2020-07-16 |archive-date=2020-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231045623/https://books.google.com/books?id=JXJGDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|147}}